How to reach the speed of startups in innovation initiatives if you are a large company.

How to reach the speed of startups in innovation initiatives if you are a large company.2017-07-242017-08-21http://arekskuza.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/logo-1-3.pngArek Skuzahttp://arekskuza.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/img_1217.jpg200px200px

It is easy to unwind speed in small companies, but the large ones face some specific challenges. So here is how to build momentum and reach speed in large company’s innovation efforts:

Search for collaboration with startups. Startups need to be fast from the beginning. They need to act fast in finding their niche, monetizing traction and learning their customers expectations. Otherwise they die because they build product nobody wants. Investors don’t want to invest in a startup if there is no strong evidence of value commercialisation. Large companies can bring this speed on their deck by collaborating with startups, creating partnership with them, building joint-venture projects or simply utilising startups technology.

Define budget for experiments. Speed is hard to build if there is no experiment culture in large companies. Experiments with customers are the best way to teach people about importance of speed. If you allow employees to build prototypes of products and empower your teams to test those prototypes with customers, you create great conditions for learning how speed is important.

Let them choose. Let people choose what they want to work on. Leave them space for setting up priorities. Empower them to choose what is most important for their delivery milestones and serve as a coach. By giving them freedom to decide, they create their own motivation. Motivation and self-esteem gives speed conditions to develop and grow.

Let them make mistakes. By making mistakes people start to build a sense of importance. Is this innovation more important for our company or there is something that brings more value? If your employees find the power to decide, you have great teams which will ensure there is a speed in your innovation projects.

Make it a process with clear deliverables. What do we need a speed for? What does startup need it for? For delivering faster (tickets, tasks, milestones). For shipping results faster (revenue and other KPIs). For faster discovery of customers needs (list of features). Make sure your employees have a chance to learn what failing fast means or what it means to build a product with a massive feedback from early adopters.

Call to action: if you manage a budget in your company, please try to cut 5% of it. Next, give it to people and let them decide what would be the best way to spend it, what innovation would be great to support with the amount.

Arek Skuza – coFounder of K2 Digital Ventures which helps large companies design and scale innovative ventures with audacity and speed of startups.